Neville's Seventh Year
by Firefly Alchemist
Summary: This the story of what happened during Neville's seventh year at Hogwarts. How he, Luna, and Ginny led the DA against the Death Eaters and Snape. Mostly told from Neville's POV, it's just filling in blanks of what happened in Hogwarts' drakest year.
1. Chapter 1

A/N This pretty much the story of what happened during Neville's seventh year at Hogwarts. How he, Luna, and Ginny led Dumbledore's Army against the Death Eaters, Snape, and in turn Voldemort. Mostly told from Neville's point of view, it's just filling in the blanks of Hogwarts' darkest year. Enjoy!

**Neville's Seventh Year**

**Chapter One**

Even Platform 9 3/4 had changed. It seemed duller. Darker. But then, everything was darker since Voldemort had taken over. Neville stood, his trunk in his hand, searching for a face. It couldn't be here. He knew that, but maybe, just maybe Harry would show up.

About a dozen Death Eaters roamed The Platform. Most keeping students and parents in line. others stood by the barrier, taking peoples' names, making sure that all the students showed up. Every now and then, a muggle-born would come. Neville looked away as he thought of the children who had been dragged off by dememtors. luckily, most of them had the sense not to show up. Usually it was ones returning from their first year. Tweleve year-olds, who had barely been in the magical world a year. _There's nothing you can do._ He told himself harshly, but he knew it wasn't true; he could try to stop them. Thankfully, a voice called out to distract him from these thoughts.

"Neville!" It rang through the muddy silence loud as a church bell.

Neville turned even though he knew who it was. He saw a girl dressed in one of the most ridiculous muggle outfits he had ever seen. (Which was saying something, considering how his Gran dressed) The girl had hair so blond, it looked as though it would jump up and flutter away in the breeze. She was also wearing radish earrings. "Luna!" He cried, and ran to hug her.

Neville had barely heard from any of his friends over the summer. Obviously, Harry had gone on the run. It was stupid of Neville to think that he might show up here. No, Harry was smarter than that. Also, with Hermione with him (as Neville assumed she was) he doubted Harry would be doing anything stupid. Ron of course, would also have gone, so none of them could write him for fear it would fall into Death Eater's hands. Neville knew this, he accepted it as a fact, but despite himself he was a little hurt that they hadn't shared their plans with him. Or bothered to write him at all for that matter. Ginny hadn't written him for the same reasons, but Neville hoped that once he got a chance to speak with her face to face, she might be able to shed some light on what was going on with Harry. Luna was the only one who written him at all, and even that was brief and not personal. After what happened at Bill and Fleur's wedding (For that was one thing Neville had heard about through Gran) Luna and her father had been afraid that death eaters were going through their mail. Neville wished he could disregard that as their usual paranoia, but with death eaters involved, anything could happen.

All of that was forgotten as he scooped Luna into a hug.

Luna laughed, and hugged him back. "How have you been?" She asked in her calm voice.

Neville smiled. "I've been great. How 'bout you? Is your dad still writing good things about Harry in the Quibbler?" He lowered his voice as he asked her, looking hurriedly around then to make sure that no Death Eaters or Slytherins who would surly report them to the Death Eaters were listening in on their conversation.

Luna nodded, and Neville could see a fierce pride in her father for standing up to Voldemort shining in her face.

"You two!" Someone cried.

They both turned to see Ginny Weasly hurrying towards them. Her flaming hair was flowing behind her.

"Ginny!" Luna and Neville cried together. The group hugged.

"Do you know anything about-" Neville started to ask once they broke apart, but Ginny cut him off.

"Some, but it's not safe to talk about it here. C'mon, let's go and get a compartment before they're all taken. The Hogwarts Express still leaves at eleven o' clock. At least there's one thing the Voldemort didn't change." She added the last part in a muttered whisper.

Luna and Neville smirked and followed her quickly. As they were about to board the train, Neville's grandmother came running up to him.

"You guys go on, I'll catch you in a sec." Neville said. Both girls nodded, and hurried off onto the train.

"Neville, sorry I almost didn't catch you," Neville's Gran started, straightening a button on his jacket. "Those bastards wouldn't let me through." She gestured to the line of Death Eaters guarding the train.

"Gran," Neville said, and pulled her into a hug, squashing her vulture hat.

"Neville, be careful!" She cried, trying to fix the damage to her ridiculous head gear. She faced her grandson again. "I hope you haven't forgotten anything this year, for I won't be sending something to you. You're seventeen, if you still don't have enough sense to pack everything you need in that trunk of yours..."

Neville nodded. The both stared awkwardly around for a few seconds. Then his Gran looked straight into his eyes then. "Don't you let them push you around. Never stop fighting. You're Frank and Alice Longbottom's son, and you're a Gryffindor. I know you'll do what's right." She broke off then, a sob falling from her lips like fine china crashing to the ground.

Neville was shocked. His grandmother was like a stone. She did not cry. She was the steady one, the one that could could always be counted on. He tried to ignore it, but it kept pushing to the front of his mind, refusing to be forgotten. It hung like an omen, if Augusta Longbottom was _crying..._

"Neville, I love you. Be safe." She reached up and brushed his cheek, then she was gone. Neville stood there for a second, but soon he followed Luna and Ginny onto the train.

"Are you alright?" Ginny asked when Neville closed the door behind him.

"Yeah," he muttered gruffly as he quickly wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

Luna sat watching them both with her huge eyes. She turned to face Ginny. "We're alone. Do you know where Harry is?" She asked quietly.

Ginny looked around, despite the fact that they were indeed quite alone. She then motioned for them to lean close. "I don't know exactly where he is, but he went on the run with Hermione and my brother."

Neville and Luna both nodded; they had expected this.

"When death eaters raided Bill and Fleur's wedding, well you remember," she said to Luna.

Luna nodded, her eyes were wide. "That boy with the red hair, who you said was a cousin, that was Harry wasn't it?" She asked mildly.

Ginny nodded. "He had to be in disguise. How did you know it was him?" She asked, her eyes narrowing.

"He was with Ron and Hermione," Luna answered simply.

Neville snorted, but Ginny looked solemn. "If they're that bad at hiding, they'll be caught in no time!" She cried, biting her lip in worry.

Luna looked at her, a slightly puzzled expression on her face. "Don't worry," she said comfortingly. "They know me. I would never betray them, there was no need to hide his identity from me."

Ginny nodded again, still biting her lip. "I know. Of course they would have trusted you. It's just that Ron's my brother, Hermione's like the older sister I never had, and Harry's-" She stopped as a blush bustled into her cheeks, matching her hair perfectly.

Neville snorted again, and Ginny threw her jumper at him, laughing, but her face soon grew serious again. "Back to Harry. During the wedding, many people fled. Harry, Ron, and Hermione did as well. I haven't seen them since, but Lupin found them, at Grimould Place." Ginny looked at her friend's confused expressions, and quickly clarified. "Grimould place is the house that Sirius used to own before... Well you know." With all the things going on lately, it seemed bad luck to speak of death.

Neville nodded. Unlike Luna, he had had trouble getting over the fact that Sirius Black wasn't a murdering traitor. Luna had accepted it like it was something that she had always known. But then, Luna believed in Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.

"As far as I know they're still there. You mustn't tell anybody! I think that Dumbledore told them to do something... I heard dad and mum yelling about it, but I don't know what it is, or how it could tie into killing Voldemort."

It was less than what Neville had hoped for, but at least it was something.

The three of them were silent for a moment, until Ginny started to speak. "How bad do you think Hogwarts is going to be?" She asked quietly.

The compartment hung suspended in time for a moment, as none of them answered the question. It was easy to pretend that everything was normal when they were leaving for the same castle, on the same day, in the same train, and at the same time they had been every year for the last five, (or six in Neville's case) but they had to face the facts. Death Eaters controlled Hogwarts. Though on the outside it may have appeared normal, who knew what was waiting for them on the inside.

"Maybe it won't be so bad..." Luna put forward.

"Maybe..." Ginny agreed hesitantly, but Neville shook his head.

"We can't lie to ourselves. We all know that it will be horrible. With Snape as headmaster, how could it not?"

Both girls sighed, but consented to the facts that Neville put forth.

"Well, what do you think we should do about it?" Ginny asked.

Neville's face broke into it's first true grin for months. I think it's time we got the D. A. back together."

A/N So what did you think? I know that this wasn't the best chapter, but please keep reading! (You know, once I've updated) Did you like it? Did you hate it? Please please please tell me; i'm dying to know. Review! Review! Review!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I apologize for how long I've neglected this story! I've been really busy and I considered dropping it, but I'd love to see where it leads. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I know that Luna and Neville (I wanted to put on Ginny as well, but ff only allows two so...) isn't the most popular search, but it's nice to that some people care! Don't worry, I'm not one of those writers who will abandon a story if it doesn't get a lot of reviews (and don't really predict this one getting a lot) I'm writing this just as much for myself as my readers. Love you all! If you're reading please review! I beg you! Thanks for reading! I present chapter 2:**

At first, the three students could in fact kid themselves that nothing had changed. At least the feast and the sorting remained the same.

"I was worried they would dissolve all the houses and just stick everyone in Slytherin," Ginny commented around a mouthful of food.

Neville nodded. He too had been nervous about the that. He honestly didn't know what he would do if he had been forced into Slytherin. He liked to think that he would refuse, stand up for Gryffindor and the other houses like his gran would want him to, like Harry would, but he couldn't stop thinking about all the times in the past years that he had been too cowardly to do anything to stop the terrible things that were happening around him. No, he had depended on Harry, Ron, and Hermione to do that for him. Well, they were gone this year, so it was up to him and the rest of the D.A.

Neville lost his train of thought as the entire room quieted. "What's going on?" He asked Ginny, feeling slightly stupid.

Ginny pointed to the teacher's table. "Snape's about to speak." She didn't even try to hide the contempt that her words were cooked in.

"Students, students," Snape addressed the crowd, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention even though the room was already so silent that you could hear the ghosts floating around.

A sly greasy smirk curled his lip, and in that moment, Neville hated Snape more than he'd ever hated someone before (except maybe Bellatrix Lestrange). That slimy git was probably thinking of how he had killed Dumbledore and taken his position as head master. Neville's fists clenched under the table. Oh if only he were alone in a room with that bastard! True, Snape would probably kill him, but at least he could be doing something instead of just sitting listening to Snape slap the faces of everyone who had supported Dumbledore.

"Now, as I'm sure you all know, Hogwarts has undergone a few... changes this year."

Snape paused for dramatic effect and Ginny took the opportunity to grasp Neville's hand under the table. It wasn't anything romantic; it was more of a sisterly action. This was the moment they had all been dreading. He squeezed her hand comfortingly. Looking around, Neville noticed that the entire Gryffindor table had tensed up, wait no, the entire school was frozen with dread. Except the Slytherin table. Of course; what would they have to worry about?

"First, we have some new teachers to introduce. First is Amycus Carrow. He will be teaching a new subject: 'The Dark Arts.' This will be replacing 'Defense Against the Dark Arts.'"

The school gasped. Could they possibly have correctly? The Dark Arts? They weren't even trying to hide it anymore. Muttering throughout the four tables rose up like a wispy breeze, but Snape soon put an end to it. "Silence! I will have students disrespect like me like that!" He cried.

The school fell deathly quiet. Neville got the feeling again that he should do something. He knew that if Fred or George had been here they would have loudly cracked some joke, Harry would have protested, even Ron and Hermione would have done something, but Neville just wasn't them! He was a coward, so he shamefully sat in his seat saying nothing.

"Next is Alecto Carrow, she will be teaching Muggle Studies, which is also a required course by decree of the Ministry of Magic."

"Aren't the Carrows death-" He started to whisper to Ginny, but he was cut off by her curt answer.

"Yes."

No need to be surprised there. If they had created a subject called 'The Dark Arts' for gods sake, what was the problem with making Death Eaters Professors?

"What happened to Professor Burbage?" A voice cried out, refering to the old teacher of Muggle Studies.

For once, Snape didn't smile, in fact he looked a little annoyed. "She has left Hogwarts."

"Yeah right, She was murdered by Voldemort!" Seamus Finnigan shouted from beside Neville, then quickly ducked his head as Snape searched for the speaker. The school started to murmur again.

Snape seemed to let this breach of his authority slide, but a cruel smile once again graced his mouth. "Also the Carrows are responsible for disciplinary measures. All other teachers are to report misbehavior to them, and students will go and see one of them for his or her punishment"

Well, Neville could guess types of 'punishments' they had in mind. Others around the school also shifted uncomfortably in their seats. For the first time, Neville started to think that they'd have trouble getting people, even previous D.A. members, to stand up to Snape's oppressive reign. How could he ask people to risk their physical well-being attacks that would probably be only perceived as 'annoying?'

Also, new rules have been put in place. There are too many for me to recite at the moment, however, all houses will have the full list posted in their common rooms. That is all, please follow your Houses prefects to your dormitories." As an afterthought, he added, "Welcome to another year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

No one said anything when when Snape was done, and he seemed to prefer it that way. One by one the prefects led their houses away, but the Gryffindors were still a mess. No one seemed to know what was going on. The fifth and sixth year prefects appeared not to know what to do. With a jolt, Neville realized that the seventh year prefects were supposed to lead, but Gryffindor's seventh year prefects were Ron and Hermione, and since neither of them were there, chaos had ensued.

Thankfully Professor McGonagall was approaching her house. "Neville Longbottom. Lavender Brown. You are the two seventh year prefects since neither Mr. Weasly or Miss Granger returned to the school this year."

Neville nodded, dumbstruck. He looked to Lavender, she seemed equally as shocked.

"You will immediately assume all duties of a prefect. Including leading everyone to Gryffindor tower," she said, looking at the mess of a house. Her eyes softened slightly, and Neville had no doubts about who she was thinking of. "Good luck you two. You have big shoes to fill."

Both Neville and Lavender nodded. They understood that McGonagall had not meant to insult them; she had merely meant to subtly compliment Ron and Hermione. "Thank you Professor," Neville muttered.

Neville collapsed onto his large four poster bed. He looked around the room, and was surprised to see how empty it was. The only other person in it was Seamus and he was staring out a window. "Hey, where's Dean?" Neville asked, almost afraid for the answer.

Seamus turned. "He's on the run. I haven't heard from him in months." His fists clenched, obviously hating how he was helpless to help his best friend.

Neville was surprised at the answer. "I thought that he was a half-blood!" He said.

Seamus sighed. "I don't think he even knows for sure. He thinks his dad was a wizard, but the git ran out on his mom, and Dean doesn't have any way of proving that he has magical blood, so he thought it would be safest to get out while he could."

Neville nodded solemnly. There were too many stories just like Dean's going around nowadays.

"What about Ron and Harry?" Seamus asked.

Neville sighed. "They're on the run as well."

"Oh. Guess I expected that. So it's just you and me?"

"Yep." Neville stared at the boy in front of him. He was in the D.A., Seamus could help Luna, Ginny and him convince old (and hopefully new) members to rejoin the D.A. "Seamus, I was thinking, well Luna, Ginny, and I were thinking that it's about time to get the D.A. back in action. You up for it?"

A grin spread across Seamus' face. "Hell yes. Let's give these gits the shit they deserve!"

Neville was encouraged by the enthusiastic reply. "Well then, spread the word. We're meeting in the Room of Requirement after dinner tomorrow!" As Neville said it, he knew it was a good idea. They would show the Death Eaters that Dumbledore's Army was a force to be reckoned with. Hell, if they could get through Umbridge, they could get through anything. Neville didn't know how wrong he was.

**A/N I know, not great or anything. I also apologize for the shortness and for the fact that nothing really happened. After months of waiting that's what you get. **

**Well if you have any extra time after reading this, please review, I'd love to hear your feedback! Tell me what you think, in this chapter I tried to capture how helpless Neville feels and also the fact that he's trying to be Harry for everyone's sake. In my mind Neville's still making the transition from follower to leader. Also, I've got some stuff in mind about things that could happen this year, but I'd love to hear your suggestions! So if you want anything specific you want to happen, just post it in a review, and I'll see if I can fit it in anywhere! Love you all!**

**P.S. I just reread the reviews from last chapter, and you guys are really sweet! I'd like to thank Princess Twila, LunaLongbottem7, and perfectlyODD for being my first reviewers! I'm doing this for you guys! Please review!  
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	3. Chapter 3

**A/N I know it's been months and months since I last updated! I'm so sorry and if I still have any readers, I hope that they can find it in their hearts to forgive me. **

**A few notes before this chapter, though I despise filler chapters, this one regrettably needed to be in here. It's a little boring, but necessary. Also, there are so many little facts flying around this chapter, I'm bound to have messed one up. I don't mind you pointing any inconsistencies out to me in a review or a pm, but I ask for everyone to please remain civil while doing so. Despite what my lack of updates may tell you, I don't have the time to search for every single fact to make sure I got it right. Luna may seem a tad OOC, but I find her really hard to write for. One more thing, I made up the bit about the Patil twins uncle, but other than that, everything should be pretty much straight out of the book.  
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**I love you guys, and please enjoy chapter three!**

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><p>The room of requirement had taken exactly the same form it had two years before when the D. A. had first used it. The bookcases that lines the walls and the throw cushions on the floor were oddly comforting to Neville. It seemed almost as though he could simply lean back and fade into the happier times of the first D. A. Sure things had been bad then, but nothing compared to how they were now.<p>

Ginny was pacing the room nervously, and Neville couldn't blame her. All three of them, Luna, Ginny, and himself were waiting anxiously for others to show up. They knew that Seamus was definitely coming, but they didn't know for sure about anyone else. _Well we only told about five people,_ Neville thought. After what had happened with the D. A. last time, they had thought it might be wise to only invite those they knew for sure that they could trust. Especially now that the stakes were so high, a betrayal was just about the worst thing that could possibly happen. The sound of the door opening brought Neville out of his grim thoughts.

"Oh, you guys are already here," Seamus said, as he saw the three students. He bent over, panting slightly.

"Seamus, what happened?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, I ran from a couple of members of the Inquisitorial squad."

That was another change. Snape had decided to bring it back from Umbridge's days. Once again, the only members were Slytherins.

"Did they-" Ginny started anxiously, but was cut off before she could finish by Seamus' laughter.

"Don't worry the bastards never got a look at me or where I was going."

The other three all let out collective sighs of relief. "What about the others? D'you know for sure if anyone else is coming?" Neville asked, but before Seamus got a chance to answer the door opened again.

"Hello?" A girl's voice asked hesitantly.

Everyone turned, and saw Lavender Brown and the Patil twins, Parvati and Padma. They looked slightly scared to be there, and Neville couldn't blame them. Who knows what would happen to them if they were caught? But, under the fear in their eyes, he also saw a fierce determination.

He remembered why they were here: all three of them had been loyal members of the original D. A., and thanks to some news that his Gran had told him over the summer, Neville also knew that the Patil's Uncle had been killed while defending a muggle family from Death Eaters. Both of the twins' parents worked at the ministry, and Neville had heard that they had staunchly defended both Harry and Dumbledore right up until You-Know-Who had taken over. He didn't know very much about Lavender, but she was Parvati's best friend, plus she had dated Ron the previous year. Yes these girls would die before they gave them up. "Hey. Thanks for coming." Neville said, stepping up to greet them warmly. "We really appreciate it."

Lavender smiled at him. "We wouldn't miss it for the world. D. A.'s the only reason any of us passed our Defense Against the Dark Arts. O.W.L.s." Her face fell a little as she continued. "I guess that doesn't matter anymore does it, what with it not being a subject…" She trailed, seeming unsure of what to say.

Parvati took up for her. "We're here to fight the Death Eaters." She stated.

Neville nodded. "We all are. Do any of you know if anyone else is coming?" He asked.

They shook their heads.

"Well I guess we should get started then, and see if anyone else shows up." He suggested.

Everyone nodded. An awkward silence filled the room, as no seemed to know what to say. _This is where Harry would start running things,_ Neville thought, so he took a deep breath, cleared his throat and started to talk. "Well, I know that this seems rather obvious, but Harry's not here. I don't need to tell anyone that he's the one who usually runs these things."

Everyone looked down. The entire room suddenly seemed to realize how impossible accomplishing anything without Harry would be. He had a way of getting things done.

Despite this, Neville continued bravely. "So everyone here needs to understand that we really have no idea what we're doing at the moment. If anyone has any ideas of how we should start or do anything really, please speak up. I can't," Neville paused for a second. "We can't," he amended, gesturing towards Luna and Ginny. "Do this alone. We all have to work together in order to do anything! Now, does anyone have any ideas for how we should start?" Neville finished, hopefully.

Lavender put her hand up timidly. "Well, last time we started with choosing a leader, so maybe we should do that again?" she suggested.

Ginny spoke up. "Actually, I've been giving that a lot of thought, and I for one know that we will never replace Harry, so why should we even try? I think that maybe it would be better if we didn't have one official leader. Besides if the Death Eaters ever caught a leader," Ginny shivered a little. "Well I can say that I don't think that any of us would envy that person."

"But without a leader this could just all be chaos," Padma Patil pointed out.

Luna spoke for the first time: "Harry's our leader. It doesn't make a difference whether or not he's here. We fight for him, just like we always have."

Neville stared at her for a second. It was unusual for her to say anything so serious, so down to earth. His hands clenched into fists. He hated the Death Eaters. He wished with every fiber in his body that all Luna had to talk about was Nargels or Crumple-Horned Snorkacks . He just wished that… that… all of this was over. He wished that there weren't new disappearances and deaths in the newspaper everyday. He wished that muggleborns didn't have to run for their lives. He wished that good people didn't have to live in hell. He wished… he wished Harry were here.

Seeming to sense his worry, Luna moved a couple of steps closer to him.

Neville smiled a little. Despite everything that was going on, he was comforted to know that there were still people like Luna out there, who tried to help others. Neville turned back to conversation. Now Seamus was saying something.

"I think that Ginny and Luna are right, at there's no point in choosing a new leader." Seamus paused and looked around the room. When no one protested, he continued. "Now we need to decide what we're going to do about trying to get more people to help us."

Everyone nodded. He was right, but this was the hard part: how could they decide who to trust and who not to?

"Excuse me, We're not late are we?" A voice asked.

Everyone turned, and saw Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot from Hufflepuff.

Neville frowned. He knew that they had told Susan about the meeting; You-Know-Who had just murdered her aunt, and during his first rise to power, he slaughtered half her family, and she had been part of the original D. A., but none of them had invited Hannah. She had also been a part of the D. A., but honestly, none of them had known enough about her to trust her.

Susan paused for a second, seeing where everyone was looking. She blushed a little. "Sorry, I hope you don't mind that I brought her…"

No one wanted to say anything. Finally Hannah spoke up for herself. "I know that you only asked people to come that you could trust, and honestly I'm not insulted. I understand how careful you have to be, but please believe me that I'm only here because I want to fight the Death Eaters!"

Neville suddenly remembered that Voldemort had killed her mother the year before. Well, that was more than enough reason to trust her not to give them up to Snape or any of the Death Eaters. "It's not that," he covered quickly. "We all know what happened last year, it's just that I didn't know you were back. After… what happened you left, I didn't know you were coming back to Hogwarts." He explained feeling slightly guilty for the blatant lie.

Hannah looked relieved. "Oh, well then. It was kind of hard not to, since attending Hogwarts is mandatory now," she said, a smile forming on her face.

The smile confused Neville for a moment, but then he realized that she had been truly afraid that they wouldn't trust her enough to let her fight with them. With a jolt he realized that three quarters of the school had stories just like a Hannah's, Susan's, and the Patil twins'. Almost all of them would want to fight as well. A grin appeared across his face as for a moment, he thought that maybe recruiting members wouldn't be so impossible after all.

"I'm fairly sure that everyone whose coming is here now," Ginny said, smiling at the new arrivals. "So let's continue."

"We were just deciding how to go about getting people to help us," Luna informed Susan and Hannah. To Neville's relief the dreamy aspect had once again returned to her voice.

"We have to decide who we can trust," Neville explained.

"Well, we can trust everyone in the D. A. right?" Susan asked.

Neville sighed. "I wish it were that easy. Remember what happened last time?"

Susan nodded.

"Well we can't risk that happening again, so we'll have to be more careful about who we let rejoin the D. A."

"Ernie Macmillan," Hannah said immediately, but then blushed as everyone turned to her. "I've been good friends with him since first year."

From the tone of her voice, Neville wondered whether or not Hannah and Ernie were more than just 'good friends'.

Hannah continued with her speech, "He hates You Know Who just as much as any of us, and he wants to fight."

Neville hesitated for a second, could they go on Hannah's word? Luckily for him, Ginny also spoke up in favor of Ernie.

"Yeah. I think we can trust him. Remember two years ago when Voldemort," Half the room winced involuntarily as Ginny spoke his name. "First rose to power," She continued, ignoring the reaction. "Well he believed Harry immediately. He said so in public."

"Yeah," Lavender agreed also. "I, well I didn't actually believe Harry," she looked down at her shoes, ashamed. "But when Ernie announced that he believed Him, it got me thinking that Harry might be telling the truth."

Neville nodded. "This is working. How about if three of us can vouch for someone, we consider them trustworthy."

Everyone nodded, that seemed like a good policy. "What if they're a D. A. member, do they get credit for that?" Seamus asked.

Neville thought it over for a second then shook his head. "I don't think so. I mean, three of us can vouch for almost everyone in the D. A., so I don't know how much it would matter. Also, I don't think that we should penalize people who want to fight just because they aren't members."

Once again the room was filled with nods; it made sense.

"One more thing," Padma said. "What about ages. I mean should we let the younger students join?"

It was another tricky question. Finally after much thought, Ginny answered. "I don't think so. At least not in the beginning. I mean, even we don't know how dangerous this could turn out being. I don't think that we can gamble their lives on it."

Seamus spoke up. "But then how old should you have to be to join? Seventeen, when you're an adult?"

"No!" Luna and Ginny said in unison. Both of them were only sixteen.

"They're right," Hannah said. "If we only let seventeen year olds join there won't be any of us."

Neville nodded at the truth in her words. The number of seventeen-year-olds in Gryffindor this year had dropped to the point you could practically count them on one hand. Too many people were on the run or in hiding.

"How young then?" Parvati asked.

"Fifteen." Luna answered immediately.

Everyone turned to look at her. "Why?" Neville asked.

Luna looked around, like she thought it was obvious. "At Hogwarts that's when you become an adult," she answered simply.

Neville was just bout to ask her to clarify when Padma started talking.

"I think I know what she means. Prefects start in fifth year, it's when we take out first significant round of test, the O.W.L.s. Also, Harry was that old when he first formed the D. A."

"Well I guess that's right…" Neville said, still unsure. "Does anyone object to letting people fight at fifteen?" No one said anything. "Well then I guess that brings us back to members. We have Ernie, anyone else?"

"Wait, we should write these down," Ginny said.

"Oh! I have some parchment and a quill," Padma said, and took them out and wrote Ernie's name at the top of the list. "Okay, who else?" she asked.

"Michel Corner," Ginny said.

"Alright, can two others vouch for him?" Neville asked.

"I can," Padma raised her hand, the quill dripping ink onto the piece of parchment.

"One more," Neville said.

"I trust him," Luna said.

"Okay. Padma, write him down."

This went on for about an hour until they had a list of about fifteen member. Almost all of them had been previous order members, but a few were new.

"Brilliant!" Neville smiled, looking down at the parchment. Suddenly a thought occurred to him. "Does anyone know that jinx Hermione used on the sign-up parchment last time?" he asked. "We could enchant our new one the same way, but maybe make it worse, to discourage anyone from ratting us out!"

Seamus started nodding his head in agreement, but the others didn't seem so sure.

"Just an idea…" Neville murmured.

"I think there's one more issue: communication. We have to keep all our meetings as secret as possible," Susan pointed out.

"Oh that one's easy." Seamus answered. He reached into his robes and pulled out a shining gold galleon. "We'll use these again. Those slimy gits in Umbridge's little fan club never did find out how we were talking to each other. I'm sure that the death eaters will be just as thick. Have you allstill got yours?"

There was an assortment of nods around the room.

"Wait," Ginny said, and everyone turned to look at her. "It's not quite true what Seamus said about the Inquisitorial squad never finding out about the coins." She took a deep breath before continuing. "Draco Malfoy found out about them. He used them to communicate with Madam Rosmerta last year. I don't think he told anyone else though, probably to keep communication a secret."

"Well it still works out then," Susan said, smiling. "Draco hasn't returned to Hogwarts." Her smile morphed into one of disgust. "He got some special pass. I heard that You-Know-Who welcomed him into his ranks. Probably for the part he played in Dumbledore's death last year." She ended bitterly.

"So assuming that Malfoy still hasn't told anyone, the coins should still work!" Parvati said excitedly.

"But won't it be easy for them to find out? I mean, Death Eater's may be morons, but even they've got to talk to each other," Seamus pointed out. "If one mentions to Malfoy that the D. A. started up again he's bound to spill the beans about how we communicate, right?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Neville said, frankly. "It's the best shot we've got."

"Well, I think we have everything settled then." Ginny stated, smiling. "Try to talk to anyone on this list that you can without raising suspicion. We don't want the Death Eaters on our tails before we even begin.

There were nods, and everyone headed for the door. There were sounds of laughter and chatting as multiple conversations broke out. Neville was once again struck with the thought that with a small stretch of the imagination, this could be the end of a normal D. A. meeting. A broad grin broke out across his face and he knew that the Death Eaters running the school would have hell to pay for everything that they had done.

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><p><strong>AN There you have it! Please please please review! I'm always dying to hear any feed back you may have to offer. **

**I'm too lazy to continue editing this even though it could use it, so sorry if there are any grammatical or spelling mistakes!  
><strong>

**I love you guys, don't forget to review!  
><strong>


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